


eunhae | walk in the sun

by plincess_cho (ai_hao)



Series: 1+1=Love | Donghae x Eunhyuk [3]
Category: Super Junior
Genre: EunHae, Fluff, Gen, always eunhae, non-au, soft fluffy nostalgic pups
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-29 14:50:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13929333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ai_hao/pseuds/plincess_cho
Summary: Donghae drags Hyukjae out to watch the sunrise, just like they do every year.





	eunhae | walk in the sun

“I cannot believe that you talked me into this,” Hyukjae says. He pulls his scarf up over his nose in an attempt to ward off the winter chill from the early morning air. It’s just after six in the morning, and they’re walking down the empty streets to the river. Most normal people are in bed at this hour, sleeping off their hangovers from the New Year’s Eve festivities the night before. Hyukjae should be back home in bed as well, but…

But like always, Donghae had somehow convinced him to do something dumb for the sake of nostalgia, and that’s why they’re heading down to the river to watch the sunrise.

“Please,” Donghae replies. “You complain every year, but then every year you’re like ‘Donghae, this was such a good idea’.”

Hyukjae harrumphs into his scarf. Donghae isn’t wrong. Every year, Hyukjae tries to beg off their early morning trek to the river. It’s too cold, he’s too hungover, they can just pull up a youtube video of the sunrise. But every year, he gives into Donghae’s pleading.

Because it’s Donghae, and it’s just so easy to give into Donghae.

They make their way down to the boardwalk by the water. Donghae suggests finding a bench, but Hyukjae decides it is way too cold to be sitting still. The sun won’t actually rise for another hour, so instead, they stroll down the boardwalk in the dark and talk about the past.

“Remember the first time we did this?” Donghae asks.

“Mmhmm,” Hyukjae replies. How could he forget?

*

The first time had been sort of an accident. They two of them had all stayed up late watching their appearance on _X-Man_ with some of the other members who had stuck around for the holiday. Everyone else had either gone home to their parents or gone out drinking with friends. Donghae probably would have gone home, except his mother and brother had gone to visit relatives down south and Donghae wouldn’t have been able to make it there and back in the short time off they had been allowed. Hyukjae had gone home to see his parents earlier in the day but had decided to come back to ring in the new year with the others. They were his new family now, after all, and he wanted to start 2007 off right.

They’d all fallen asleep somewhere around three in the morning, and Hyukjae probably would have slept through until about noon if Donghae hadn’t tripped over him on his way out the door at some ungodly early hour.

“Where are you going?” Hyukjae had mumbled.

“To the river,” Donghae had said. “For the sunrise. Want to come with?”

Against his better judgment, Hyukjae had groggily pulled on a pair of sweatpants, a parka, and someone else’s shoes and followed Donghae down to the riverside.

They’d parked themselves on a bench and waited patiently for the sun to peek over the horizon.

“What do you wish for in 2007?” Donghae had asked.

“Eh?” Hyukjae had replied. He’d nearly fallen asleep again thanks to the cold.

“Well it’s a new year, isn’t it? What do you wish for?”

Hyukjae had just shrugged. “I don’t know,” he’d said. “I guess that Super Junior will continue to do well and that we could become as famous as DBSK.”

“Mm,” Donghae had murmured. “You know what I wish for?”

“What?”

“I wish that this year, I’d make my dad proud.”

“Ahh.”

A bit later, the sun had peaked over the horizon in the most brilliant array Hyukjae had ever seen. The light reflected off of the ice crystals in the air from the snow the day before, spreading gorgeous bursts of color across the morning sky. It had filled Hyukjae with promise, and as he and Donghae had walked back to the dorms with frozen fingers and toes, Hyukjae had said, “Hae, you’ve already made your dad proud, but we’ll do even better this year.”

And they had.

*

“That seems so long ago,” Donghae says.

“It was so long ago,” Hyukjae replies, chuckling softly.

And it’s true. Since that first morning in 2007, they’ve spent the morning of nearly every single New Year’s Day together, watching the sun come up. It hasn’t always been at the river’s edge in Korea. They’d spent a few New Year’s sunrises in Japan, in China, in Thailand, and even in the States. Donghae had once told Hyukjae that he’d love to see a different sunrise every New Year’s Day, but Hyukjae had reminded him that the best sunrises were in Korea.

“Remember when we were in the army?” Donghae asks.

Hyukjae snorts. “How could I forget? You called me collect and informed me under no uncertain terms that if I didn’t arrange my holiday leave to spend New Year’s with you that we would no longer be friends.”

Donghae smiles sheepishly. He had in fact said that, and Hyukjae had also in fact arranged his leave accordingly. What he hadn’t told Donghae was that he had already requested leave a good month before Donghae had asked for this specific purpose.

It didn’t seem right to start a new year without Donghae next to him.

They walk back and forth on the boardwalk for a bit longer before Hyukjae suggests they find a bench. The sky is starting to brighten, chasing the stars back into the far reaches of space. They sit down on the cold seats and look out at the water, half frozen this time of year. Hyukjae shifts around, trying to get comfortable. More often than not these days, he’s reminded that he’s getting old. It had started with a few wrinkles and had progressed to achy joints, crow’s feet, and a receding hairline. Thankfully, he hadn’t started singing to himself in his apartment like Teuk-hyung had years ago. Hopefully he wouldn’t get that old too quickly.

“What do you hope for this year?” Hyukjae asks, once he’s found a reasonably comfortable position.

Donghae looks up at the sky above. He exhales, and Hyukjae can see his breath in the cold air. “I think,” he pauses, “I want to wish health for my mother.”

“Hmm,” Hyukjae nods in agreement.

“You know, it’s been almost thirty years since Dad died, if you can believe it. I thought she’d find someone else but she never did.”

“You take good care of her,” Hyukjae says. And he means it. These days, he knows that Donghae goes to visit her several days a week when he has the time, bringing her food and medicine and anything else she may need. He tries to do the same for his own parents. They aren’t as young as they once were either.

“She keeps herself healthy,” Donghae replies. “The grandkids keep her young.”

Hyukjae nods in agreement. His parents say the same thing whenever he brings his kids over to see them. They enjoy having the little ones running about, and Hyukjae is just glad they all live close enough to see each other often.

He knows his priorities have changed over the years. Back in the early days, all of his new year’s wishes had been for success, for fame, for money. But after the accidents, after the enlistments, and after things had changed, he’d started wishing for other things. For happiness. For health. For love. It’s only natural for things to change, of course, but these new year’s visits to the river only make Hyukjae more nostalgic.

After the band had stopped promoting together, everyone had gone to pursue different paths. A lot of the boys had gotten married and were in the midst of starting families. Some of them had spent a few years running variety shows together, and Hyukjae even still worked with Donghee doing stage production and design for the company. Donghae had stepped away from the limelight for awhile to be a stay-at-home dad, something he enjoyed immensely. He and his kids appeared on those “dad and kids” variety shows every so often. He’d call Hyukjae afterwards and they’d laugh about the old days where they’d reminisce about all the shows they’d been on as kids.

 _As kids._ Some days, Super Junior seems like it was a lifetime ago, and other days, Hyukjae wakes up ready to go to the salon before a day of schedules and recordings just like the old days.

Life had changed. They had known it would.

And yet, some things would never change.

“What do you wish for, Hyuk?” Donghae asks.

The sun is just peeking over the horizon now, and Hyukjae had to wiggle his fingers to keep them from going numb. He thinks about Donghae’s question for a moment. He wishes for health for his family, that his kids will grow up well, that this year will filled with good things. He wishes for happiness, for strength, and for his hair to stop turning gray so quickly.

But today, what he says aloud is, “I wish for more New Year’s Days just like this one: the two of us, sitting by the river, and hoping for only good things in the future.”

And with that, the sun finally pushes itself over the horizon and lights up the world around them, welcoming to the people of Seoul to a new year. Hyukjae pulls Donghae to his feet and they hurry down the boardwalk to the city streets in search of a cup of coffee.

“Happy 2036!” the barista says, handing them their drinks.

Hyukjae smiles. “Happy 2036,” he says in reply. He and Donghae walk back out onto the street and into a new year.

And Hyukjae knows that next year, he’ll complain that it’s too cold, that it’s too early, or that he’s too old to sit by the river in the cold, but that Donghae will drag him out to watch their thirtieth sunrise together and that it will be even more beautiful than this one.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love ♡
> 
> [twitter](twitter.com/plincess_cho) / [tumblr](plincess-cho.tumblr.com)


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